Friday, February 4, 2011

Warpcon XXI

Attended Warpcon this past weekend down south in Cork. 30players, 2400pts, little to no comp, all to play for. The list I took can be see below and is a slightly better deviant from my normal Empire list.

Top of the touney was drawn against Ken's Beastmen for Blood and Glory. Despite the internet rabble about Beastmen being crap, I wasn't going to underestimate them, especially with Ken (Irish ETC Captain 2011) at the helm. Immediately stuck my Greatswords and BSB in a building to keep them safe as there was little in Ken's army to shift them. The initial game involved me simply trying to panic as many banner-totting units as I could with Mortars/Crossbows/Magic while the Cannons tried to pop the ever-lucky-never-dying Ghorgon. Steam Tank managed to jam into one the Gor blocks with a Wizard inside but didn't roll high enough on impact hits to grind them up quickly enough to catch his uber Bestigor unit with BSB and General before it was out of sight, leaving the Steam Tank ploughing the fields. Said uber unit double charged the Flagellants along with a Razorgor, both of which proceeded to get butchered by Flagellants (dead pig, about 17 dead Bestigor) however the beasties managed to tie the combat thanks to Primal Fury and GWs, getting the wounds back. They managed to take the Flagellants over time but had taken a big hit. Game ended a draw with neither army broken, though Ken had taken more victory points for a 13-7.

Game 2 - Ciaran Dunne - Skaven - Meeting Engagement

Moved up to table 6 for game 2 against Ciaran's Skaven in Meeting Engagement. Two huge 100-man units of Slaves had a few people crying cheese over the weekend however me and my Mortars didn't agree. I had the tools to deal with his list but it just wasn't to be this day. To start my Cannons were held in reserve so they could not shoot in turn 1. Following that one of the Mortars blew up turn one, and in his turn one I failed to roll a 3 on two dice to dispel Skitterleap which eneded in a Brass Orb on the Steam Tanks head. From there on it was downhill as Ciaran was easily able to take advantage. Last chance was to smash one of his characters with the War Altar however a Warplightning Cannon shot sniped both the Lector and his Mount before he had the chance. The Greatswords, BSB, and Crossbows were the only survivors of the bout with me only being able to take a unit of Plague Monks and a unit of Gutter Runners. One shining moment amidst the bad luck however must be mentioned; Swordsmen fighting the Plague Monks, Plague Monks do 15 wounds, between Light Armour, Shield, and Parry the Swordsmen save 12!

Game 3 - Peter Crowley - Skaven - Watchtower

On table 11 for the Watchtower scenario for game 3 and got paired against Peter Crowley's Skaven. Peter got the tower but chose not to deploy his Swarms in it. Getting first turn the Flagellants made a bee-line for it while the Pistoliers ran at the weapons teams. Everything else dallied needing some shooting damage before being able to take the big blocks in combat. War Altar managed two wounds on his HPA with Shem's Burninh Gaze stopping it from getting up after it died. Stank managed to get into his Level 4 and BSB's block and break it before being charged by the HPA, which it subsequently killed. After that moping up became easier, especially after Dwellers took out the general and half his unit. Peter made a wiley play and nearly won the game with only a Warlock in the tower but the game went on one turn too long and the Greatswords charged and took it. Despite pounding loses, Peter managed to kill my Level 4 and Steam Tank in the last turn to take some points back bringing the result down to a 16-4 win for me.

Game 4 - Fergus Byrne - Dwarfs - Dawn Attack

Game 4 on day 2 against Fergus Byrne's Dwarfs in Dawn Attack saw my luck against Ciaran paid back. Fergus took the first turn and opened the game by blowing up his Anvil and general. After that with no magic defense I managed to Dwellers 4 units successfully over the course of the game, taking out two of them. The Flagellants were stars, taking on the BSB's Hammerers and a unit of GW Warriors in the sides. Continuous castings of Flesh to Stone allowed me to keep the wound tally low enough for me to be able to martyr guys every round almost, meaning the Hammerers died quickly. Preverbial nail in the coffin was hit once the Steam Tank came through. Last block unit was then squashed by a Mortar, taking loads more wound than it should before getting the combat whereby a counter charge from the War Altar saw it beaten over a few rounds.

Game 5 - Kevin Rothwell - Empire - Battleline

Last game of the weekend would see a like-like scenario of Empire v Empire in Battleline. Faced Kevin Rothwell from the northern wasters and this was probably to most fun match of the weekend, being topsy-turvy in all aspects and appropriately brutal. Kevin got a good lead in managing to hide his 2 wizards and their unit in a building in the corner far from the action, with his BSB and Altar hiding behind it. However this gave me an advantage in magic with most of his spells out of range. With two Steam Tanks to deal with, I chose to weigh to the opposite flanks mostly, with the Flagellants keeping the lesser flank anchored. The plan was to try wipe out the rest of the army (minus probably the Stanks) ASAP and then focus cannon fire on the building to hopefully cause some panic. It didn't work, however the game was for the most part rather balanced. Kevin managed to set me up well on the right flank with the Knights ready to eat through my War machines, my Greatswords turned to protect them, but Kevin got his Stank around mine and set up a flank charge on the Greatswords. With no use of Regrowth, Flesh to Stone already cast, Throne of Vines already in play, and his Knights about the get cannoned, I through caution to the wind and tossed my last 6 dice at an unlikely Dwellers on the Steam Tank which promptly rolled a 6 and died. At this point I was delighted that I might have bought myself a change at victory, and it made Kevin play his other Stank more cautiously to the point it wouldn't make its points back, however it was short lived as my Arch Lector and his War Altar got popped in the subsequent turn by a single cannon shot. It was backward and forward from there. I managed to take down his War Altar but the Lector survived. I had one last shot in the last turn to Dwellers his Lector for the win, but my wizard got killed unluckily in Kevin's last turn giving him the 11-9 win. A fantastically fought game, and incredible fun and bloody. There was a lot of reciprocity with me copying Kevin's moves to effect and vice-versa which was interesting.

What I learned from the weekend; well firstly was that I thought the scoring system for the win/draw/lose scenario was a bit vast. In game three I won the scenario and Peter only had a WLC, a unit of Slaves, and a unit of Gutter Runners left, while all I had lost was my Wizard, my Stank, a Cannon and a Mortar, yet it was only a +1/-1 malus.

More importantly however I learned a crap load about my army. I found the Altar a bit open, with my Lector feeling naked and indeed he died to cannon fire in three games (though the Altar survived one of those). Found also that I need to learn how to better protect my War Machines as I found I was either only getting to kill the assailants after the machines was destroyed, or I was blocking the machine's LOS by trying to protect it. I guess I got too used to my Hellcannon being able to protect itself. Was also unsure on the Pistoliers. Whereas I will always have cavalry in my lists my war machine hunting and the like, and though fast cavalry are usually better at this due to being cheaper, it would only cost me 25pts more to take 5 naked Knights instead who wouldn't get shot down so easily. Opinions? Final point I learnt, and most importantly, that my Steam Tank gets an additional D3 impact hits the turn it charges which I never knew and might have helped me in a few spots. Guess I really need to read through my Empire book. Came 17th in the end, and whereas it is my lowest result to date, it is my first army switch on the 8th edition tournament scene and I am at least happy that I kept my W/D/L record on par. I have a lot to learn but can say Warpcon was a great stepping stone.

King of the Gnoblars is in a few weeks and I'm starting to get excited about Chaos once again after some new nifty conversions I've come up with. So someone through me a fifty so I can buy what I need :)